Winter On The Road
by HaloNoir
Summary: A glimpse at Beth and Daryl's growing relationship as the group searches for a new home before winter hits. Post reunion.


Daryl loved to watch Beth sing. Had done even back at the prison, before everything happened. But now it was the highlight of his day.

Every day was pretty much the same: the monotony of the road. Daryl woke up with the near icy dew on his face, almost hollow for his lack of sleep. He would check that everyone had made it through the night, that she had made it through the night. If he was the first to wake he would treat himself by watching her sleep for a few moments, her chest rising and falling, her arms snaked loosely around Judith's round stomach.

Then they started packing up and making breakfast. Everyone tried to be quiet. There'd been a few large herds spotted lately, and the air was cold and still and perfect for carrying sound. Eugene dropped a pan a couple of days past and everyone had almost jumped out of their skin. They had packed fast, abandoned their breakfast and the pan in the embers to the sounds of walkers somewhere in the hills.

Daryl had never been one for talking but this one time that they couldn't, he had never wanted to talk more. So instead he and Beth made do with touch. Nothin' dirty. Just her hand covering his when he helped with her bedroll; him tugging the end of her long braid as she walked past with Judy. Touch and the electric lock of their eyes across the small crowd.

After breakfast they started moving. Everyone was slow first thing in the morning. Carl and Glenn rubbing sleep from their eyes like small boys. Rick and Rosita stumbling over stones. Daryl walked out front, the sting of the air waking him up fast.

At some point Carol or Maggie would spell Beth for a while, let her rest her shoulders, shake up some formula up for Judith. That's when she would stretch out her stride and keep him company in their own little vanguard. She kept the knife in her hand just as he kept his bow out, just like he had taught her. She'd been well taught. Besides, the weapons kept their hands full, lest they find some other use for them in front of company.

It weren't like they were anything official. Not really. But after their reunion things had shifted between them. She'd even landed a big one on him a few days ago, miracle no one had seen it. They'd apologised to each other afterwards, each making a real go for being the redder faced, and not spoken of it since.

But there was somethin' there. Somethin' Daryl couldn't quite work out. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, her white blonde pony bouncing against the grey landscape. Her breath clouded out in great smoky plumes. She looked tired but still luminous.

Winter was coming fast this year. Or maybe they'd just had a long autumn. Who knew these days? All Daryl knew was that they had to find proper shelter soon, somewhere to hole up over the winter. Maybe then they could work out exactly what _this_ was.

At some point Beth would slide back to the main group but not without giving him a shoulder bump and a smile. He missed her voice. The sound of trudging feet and silent voices was creeping him out. Rick moved to take her place and Daryl settled happily into his less complicated friendship.

They walked until the shadows lengthened, a shorter walk with each passing day. Then the hunt for a place to sleep begun. They got lucky a few times, found a burnt out school and gas station. Otherwise it was the woods. So it was this night. They set up a perimeter, Beth teaching Carl and Tara how to string up the alarms that Daryl had shown her. Rick and Daryl took Abraham, Maggie, Tyreese and Maggie to clear the area. They found a few stragglers but nothing to worry about. Daryl even managed to snag a rabbit, thin as it was. By the time they made it back to the camp, a small fire was burning, a few tins of beans already cooking. Carol's eyes lit on his catch and he handed it off affectionately.

The group went off of Rick's behaviour. Tonight he sat down between Carl and Judith, on Beth's lap and started making a fuss of his small brood. The ice melted a little and quiet conversation started to bubble up. No one got too loud or too raucous. They all knew the price for carelessness.

It was Rick who eventually poked Beth enough times to get her to sing, taking Judy from her. Daryl watched as Beth's face scrunch up in concentration as she tried to work out what song to sing. It was Maggie who told her to sing "On Raglan Road". The blonde started tapping her palms against her thighs, picking out the rhythm from somewhere in the recesses of her memory. When she got it right, she started.

"On Raglan Road, on an autumn day,

I saw her first and knew

That her dark hair would weave a snare

That I might one day rue.

I saw the danger and I passed

Along the enchanted way

And I said: 'Let grief, be a fallen leaf

At the dawning of the day…"

Beth's singing out here, in the wilderness, was different from back in the prison. From back at the funeral home. Daryl pushed away the thoughts of "what might've been" and just let her voice wash over him. She sang sweetly and lowly and Daryl reckoned even the birds had shut up to listen.

Daryl grunted when he was jabbed in the ribs by Michonne, her serious eyes reflecting the last of the firelight. She smiled at him.

"You know you're staring at her, don't you?" She said, her voice filtering into the hum of background noise to Beth's song.

"Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" Daryl replied, to be troublesome more than anything else. Really, he just wanted her to be quiet.

"You realize it's not a secret?"

"What?"

"That you're crazy about her," Michonne said, "Goes both ways, too." Daryl's jaw flapped, but before he could think of what to say, she shifted her focus back to the singer.

"Whatever." He muttered.

"Don't 'whatever' my sister, Daryl." Maggie hissed from his other side and he whipped his head around. He'd figured that Michonne has been quiet enough not to be overheard.

"It ain't like that." He said, near panicked now.

"Sure it is," Maggie smirked at him, "Now, I could give ya a hard time about smooching my baby sister, or we could just listen to her sing?" She offered.

Daryl wanted, desperately, just to enjoy this one little highlight of his day, but he couldn't leave it like this.

"Y'know I wouldn't- I mean, y'know I care 'bout her and all, but-"

Carol shushed him, a few seats away. Maggie looked at him a little more kindly.

"S'fine, Daryl. You just take care of her, ya hear?" Daryl just nodded mutely, knowing he'd been dismissed. As he turned back to hear the close of her song, he caught Rick's laughing, knowing eyes. Well, damn it all to hell, Daryl thought. And they'd thought they'd been so clever.

"On a quiet street where old ghosts meet,

I see her walking now,

Away from me so hurriedly.

My reason must allow

That had I loved not as I should

A creature made of clay.

When the angel woos the clay

He'd lose his wings at the dawn of day."

Beth's voice tapered off into the starry night and the birds picked up the slack. She smiled, embarrassed as she always seemed to get after a performance and Daryl's heart clutched. Why not damn it all to hell, Dixon, he told himself as he stood.

He made his way to her side of the fire, her shining eyes tracking him all the way. He knew everyone was watching but ignored the heat of their gazes as he dropped a kiss to the top of Beth's head. She smiled and hummed with pleasure as she reached up with one hand to thread her fingers lightly through his hair. He clasped her wrist lightly in his hand to pull her to her feet as everyone stood to go to bed.

"Goodnight, Daryl." She whispered as she folded him into her slim embrace. He let himself take comfort, just for a moment, his head resting in the join of her neck and shoulder. Yes, soon they would find a home and they would work out just what this was. Soon. But now he had the night watch. He extricated himself from her tired arms and memorized the way she looked tonight. She nodded in understanding and picked Judy up from Rick's lap before she headed into the thicker cover.

"Goodnight." His voice followed her into the dark.


End file.
